Laptops

Reviews March 14, 2009

HP Mini 1001 First Impressions

This week I started back at uni, and I was instantly feeling the two problems I have with my MacBook Pro: it’s not overly light for lugging around, and the battery is gooooone. Basically this left me with a choice of either buying a replacement battery or finally getting myself a decent “netbook”. Carrying around the Shift showed me how nice it is to carry around a small and light notebook, so I decided on the latter, and today picked up an HP Mini 1001TU. This model has the 1.6Ghz Atom CPU, 60GB HDD, 1GB RAM and Bluetooth. I paid…

Editorials, How to Do It Yourself! March 4, 2009

Windows 7 on the HTC Shift

There have been two activities that have become the norm across the world of technology blogging in the last couple of years: unboxing, and loading Mac OS X onto netbooks. As a person who is lucky enough to have the opportunity to play with lots of phones, notebooks and other “unboxable” items, I’ve done the former a fair bit, and as an owner of a MacBook Pro for the past few years, I can understand peoples need to load OS X onto any device with an x86 processor. Another trend that’s come up in the last month or so is…

Events February 21, 2009

Fashion Week with HP and Vivienne Tam

On February 18th and 19th, I was part of a group of mostly female bloggers who were brought to New York to meet Vivienne Tam and learn more about the HP / Vivienne Tam Mini Note collaboration. Our first day consisted of a whirlwind New York City tour… That night we were invited to the Vivienne Tam fashion show and cocktail party, where her Fall 2009 collection was revealed. Since I am new to the behind-the-scenes world of high fashion, I was a little bit surprised that what we were being shown was for Fall 2009 instead of Spring. I…

Reviews February 17, 2009

HP2140- My First Hack

One of the things that has been most significant since I made the move to using Apple’s products almost exclusively, is the fact that I have become very spoiled. I now want and expect electronics that not only work well, but also have a high degree of polished aesthetics, so that when I use the devices, they not only function well; but they also look and feel great while I use them. This is certainly the case with my iPhone and iPod Touch which continually amaze me; to a slightly lesser, but no less profound degree, this is also the…

Reviews February 15, 2009

HP 2140 In The House

Chris and I have been having quite a good time tweaking our MSI Wind netbooks. Both of us have run Mac OSX and Chris, who’s been a bit more aggressive in his hacking, now has his device booting with three different operating systems. Why then, you might ask, is my MSI Wind now in the Philippines with one of my writers from What’s On iPhone? It’s a long story that reflects my technology — fickleness.

How to Do It Yourself! January 21, 2009

OSX and Windows 7 – Dual Booting the Wind

Not being the type that can leave well enough alone, I installed Windows 7 to my Wind as planned on 1/18/09. Windows 7 is interesting. I’m still exploring… However, after I installed 7, I really wanted to see if I could put OSX back on. Having the dual boot is really cool; and the dual boot with Windows 7..? Oh yeah. I’d be the king of my local Geekdom. I had to try… The following is not sanctioned by Gear Diary, and is an advanced piece of hackery. However, once you master dual booting XP and OSX, I found this…

How to Do It Yourself! January 19, 2009

Update on Windows 7: Blowin’ in the Breeze, Part 4

This is just a short note, kids to let you know where I am with my Wind after this weekend’s article. I’ve completely blown the box, so XP is OFF the Wind. I took a couple of hours and put Windows 7 on it, and find it very interesting. I’m not completely sold on it yet, as its very Vista like, and I’ve really just got Vista Ultimate working the way I want it to on my MBP. However, I’m playing with it; and yes, there is indeed a great deal to like about Win7 that you’re going to hear…

How to Do It Yourself! January 18, 2009

Dual Booting the MSI Wind: How To

Over the past few months, I’ve seen a lot of people talk about netbook computers and how hackable they are. Sites like JKontheRun, The Gadgeteer, and even Gear Diary have all posted articles on hacking this particular netbook. While none of these sites recommends hacking ANY device, it does go a long way to showing everyone just how versatile this device truly, truly is. Honestly, I wasn’t really interested in any kind of netbook computer until Dan posted his article on the creation of a “hackintosh,” or non-Apple PC running OSX. Before then, I really didn’t seen any real value…

Gear Bits January 4, 2009

The HP Mini 1140NR Vivienne Tam Edition Is Here!

This smoking hot little red laptop showed up today, and I figured I ought to share some photos before I got prints from my eager fingers all over it. Have a look at the HP Mini (1140NR) Vivienne Tam edition; possibly the most fashionable netbook ever…

How to Do It Yourself! January 3, 2009

Dual Booting the MSI Wind: Blowing in the Breeze, Part 3

This is an update to my earlier post regarding the Wind and OSX; and is just a quick update, kids… It took a bit of doing, AND I gave up on trying to figure out how to create a bootable, Windows based USB stick. I pulled down 2 different tools, and neither could make the 8GB SanDisk Cruzer I have bootable. I’m guessing it was an issue with Vista Ultimate (running that on my MacBook Pro) and not the tools themselves; but with my Gateway desktop OFFICIALLY belly up, I had no other XP box to work from… I am…

How to Do It Yourself! December 31, 2008

Blowing in the Breeze Part 2 – OSX 10.5.6 & the MSI Wind

Before I get started, I wanted to say special thanks go out to Dan Cohen, who stayed up with me until 3am Eastern/2am Central working on the Flash drive needed to get this all done. So… OSX 10.5.6 and the MSI Wind… Yah ok… maybe not so much. Quick update – I’ve got OSX installed on my Wind (calling it miniMBP); and I’ve learned some interesting things as of this morning. 1. I can still survive and be human on as little as 2.5 hours of sleep as long as there’s good, strong coffee around…somewhere. 2. You have to find…

Reviews December 27, 2008

Tricking Out The MSI WindOSX – Part 2: Noreve Leather Case

I’ve now got MacOS X installed on an SSD drive in my MSI Wind. No moving parts means that it really is a device that can be thrown into a bag and taken anywhere. So what it needed was a good case to protect it from the bumps and bruises of daily life; boy did I find the right case! I’ve always been a fan of Noreve‘s leather cases. They use superb quality leather, they offer polished and professional styles, and they clearly employ excellent craftspeople. Best of all, it just so happens that they have a case designed especially…

How to Do It Yourself! December 26, 2008

Tricking Out The MSI WindOSX – Adding an SSD

A little over a week ago I installed Mac OS Leopard on the MSI Wind I had picked up at Best Buy. I’m pleased to report that after a week of use, it is still going strong. I’m amazed at how well the Mac OS runs on the device; I am grateful to everyone who figured out how to get Mac OS X running perfectly on a Wind and were then kind enough to share their work. Well, I couldn’t leave well enough alone, and so I decided that I need to trick out the diminutive Mac just a bit….

How to Do It Yourself! December 17, 2008

The Creation of a Hackintosh

(Note- This post is done in order to share my experience creating a Hackintosh. It is not intended to recommend or encourage similar hacks. Gear Diary neither recommends, nor takes any liability, if you choose to do the same.) I’ve been through the whole UMPC thing from the start. I had a TabletKiosk UMPC the day they were shipped. I had a Samsung Q1P, Q1Ultra, Q1Ultra Premium and a Sony UX 280P in rapid succession. I loved the whole UMPC concept but none of the machines ever fit the bill quite well enough for me. Each was either returned or,…

Reviews December 11, 2008

SuperTalent Mini PCIe SSD Drives Review

I am a huge fan of netbooks. The very first netbook, the Eee PC 701 started a frenzy of designs that even brought Dell and Lenovo into the netbook fold. One minor problem with the SSD based netbooks like the original Eee PC 701/702 and the 900/901 is that you may not have as much on-board storage as you might like. The 702 tops out at 8 GB, and that’s the model I have. While I didn’t necessarily want a lot more space, it did change how I used the little netbook; I basically dedicated the on-board storage only for…

Reviews October 23, 2008

Waterfield’s Suede Jacket Sleeve for MacBook Review

So you got your new MacBook (gorgeous isn’t it?) and you really want to carry it with you everywhere. You could throw it into a large, super protective notebook case. The problem is, but that would just weigh you down after Apple was kind enough to shave half a pound from it. You could carry it in a highly protective laptop sleeve, such as the one that I use from Waterfield. It works great and offers a fair amount of protection. But what if you want to carry a work briefcase and don’t feel like having two different cases? What…

Reviews October 15, 2008

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Review

Yes, the BlackBerry Bold and Touch Pro reviews are coming, but the Mini 9 showed up on my desk two days ago and I just had to post my thoughts on it, since it’s the first “netbook” I’ve really used since I sold off my Eee PC, and I could instantly tell what I thought of it. Out of the box the Dell looks great. With its glossy black lid and compact dimensions, it’s absolutely fabulous to carry it around. This morning I left home early so I could go to the coffee shop for a little while before work,…

Reviews October 1, 2008

The Tom Bihn Ristretto Messenger Bag Review

One of the many conveniences I’ve encountered while owning a MacBook Air has been the ability to slip the ultra-slim laptop into almost any bag for a quick carry solution; this includes larger laptops bags as well as some of my roomier purses. There are times however, when I’ve wished that I had a bag made to specifically transport the Air: something slim, streamlined, but still large enough to carry any peripherals and doo-dads I might need. Tom Bihn has released just such a bag; similar in style to their Cafe line, the Ristretto Messenger Bag is built with different…

Editorials August 20, 2008

Is 64bit Vista Ready for Prime Time?

There’s been a big push by Microsoft to get everyone to cross over to the 64bit version of Vista. Are you and your hardware ready for it? I’ve got a MacBook Pro. I purchased the notebook in December of 2006. It’s the low end unit, with a 2.16 GHz C2D processor, 4GB of RAM (yes, Leopard will see and use all 4GB of RAM, despite what you might think, or are told), and a 120GB hard drive. It’s not a bad unit; and has treated me well in the almost 20 months that I’ve been using it. The biggest problem…

Reviews August 19, 2008

The DecoCases EcoDesign Case for MacBook Pro Review

I tote two different laptops between locations these days, switching them out (or sometimes bringing both) depending upon what my needs will be once I’ve arrived. For the most part, I’ve been content to slip my MacBook Air into a bag, a sleeve, or the Agent 18 shell that Dan recently forwarded to me, but I hadn’t yet found a similar slim and protective MacBook Pro shell. Bear in mind, the type of transport I usually do involves grabbing my laptop, throwing it into my Louis Vuitton Alto tote (along with a couple days’ worth of clothing), and then driving…

How to Do It Yourself! May 20, 2008

Fixing the Empty Wireless Cone on My MacBook Air

There has been an issue which has been bugging me for the last couple of days, and tonight Mitchell and I found a solution. I thought I had better post about it, as I’ll bet that others have run into the same… When I bought the MacBook Air I restored it to the MacBook Pro backup copy I had stored on Time Machine, and the restore went without a hitch…but for one exception: I had an empty wireless cone in my menu bar. Instead of showing a wireless signal indicated by bars, the cone was completely empty – even when…

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